Bridgerton’s Michelle Mao on facing backlash as season four antagonist
Michelle Mao is opening up about the mixed reaction to her role as an antagonist on season four of Bridgerton.
While much of the response has been positive, including memes and fan edits, she acknowledges that playing one of the season’s central antagonists comes with intense scrutiny.
“It’s the first time people are meeting me,” the 27-year-old actress told People, noting that separating herself from her character has been a learning curve.
“I’ve been having such a good time being a part of this hype train and getting to see all of the memes and the videos and the jokes.” But playing “one of the main antagonists of the season comes with its own territory of navigating the online discourse and bearing the brunt, I guess, of the very real and very valid frustrations that the viewers have.”
Over time, she has come to see the backlash as a sign that she portrayed Rosamund Li, the sharp-tongued stepsister to Sophie Baek (Yerin Ha) and devoted daughter of Lady Araminta Gun (Katie Leung), convincingly.
“It’s the first time people are meeting me, and so navigating that has been its own little journey,” she says. “And I’m getting better at not letting it get to me and just holding onto the idea that it just means you did a good job as an actor, which is a good thing. I played my part really well.”
According to Mao, Netflix warned the cast about the level of online reaction the series might draw and told them support would be available, especially for those in more controversial roles.
Mao says fans’ passion can swing both ways — celebratory and critical — often in overwhelming fashion. “I remember at the time, thinking, ‘It’s not going to happen to me. I was like, ‘No, I’m sure I’ll be fine,'” the actress recalled.
She turned to Leung for advice, saying her co-star’s long experience with intense fandom helped her handle the response. “I did talk to Katie. She gave me a lot of advice, and she, also being one of the main antagonists of the season, also got her fair share of passionate responses,” Mao told the magazine.
Ultimately, Mao viewed the experience as transformative. “Honestly, I think it’s been great for me, because I think growing up, I was always such a people-pleaser, almost to an extent that was anxious for me,” Mao continued.
“And having Rosamund be kind of the first role that I’m in that breaks into public discourse a little bit, I think, was kind of like baptism by fire. It’s like exposure therapy for me, where I’m like, ‘Wow, I feel so free portraying this character that is unlikable, and she’s meant to be unlikable.'”
